The Ridiculously Overpriced ‘Vintage’ Tech of eBay

A factory-sealed, first-generation iPhone appeared on eBay this week with a wallet-draining price of $10,000. First sold in 2007, the 8GB iPhone shown above is now being touted as a ”rare collectors vintage box set.” Uh, OK. It’s nutty to hawk a single piece of 5-year-old technology as either a box set or vintage, but we’ll give the iPhone seller due respect for his marketing moxie.

The $10,000 iPhone has piqued interest on Twitter and various tech sites, so we decided to see what other pieces of “vintage” tech are selling for on eBay. Here’s a list of really old and not-so-old pieces of gadgetry that are currently up for sale. Be prepared for sticker shock!

Vintage iPod set, $89,000

I wish this was a typo. Sold by the same person behind the $10,000 iPhone, this set of four iPods is selling for nearly $90,000. The set includes what appears to be a foursome of fourth-generation iPods, including a special-edition U2 iPod. The set does not include a dinner with Bono. The best part? Two of the iPods come with engravings. According to the seller, the engravings are a mystery. So you might end up with a $20,000 “Lots of love, Judy” iPod.

Totally worth it.

C4040 ES Intel CPU, $800,000

The successor to the Intel 4004 – the first commercially available Intel CPU – the C4040 is one of the most sought-after chips in the rare-microchip collector’s market. You didn’t know that market existed, did you? Well it does, and if you’re keen on selling a few houses, you can get your hands on this piece of silicon history.

Apple Lisa 2 With Lisa Office 7/7 Software and Printer, $10,000

The Apple Lisa was a spectacular computer that was ahead of its time. The machine had protected memory, something other computers wouldn’t see for years and the Mac wouldn’t see until OS X. But all the fancy technology wasn’t cheap. At $10,000, consumers shied away from the Lisa’s GUI interface, and most Apple fans wouldn’t play with a GUI until the more reasonably priced Macintosh arrived.

And now, nearly 30 years after its release, you can get an Apple Lisa for its original sticker price. Let’s wait another 10 years and see if the price drops.

Varian Data Machines 620/L-100 Computer, $10,000

If you’ve been looking for a microcomputer from the '70s, look no further than the Varian 620/L-100. It doesn’t have a GUI or fancy keyboard, but what it lacks in processing power, this 16-bit computer makes up for in price. That’s $625 per bit, if you’re keeping score.

Interact Home Computer, $8,000

The Interact Home computer is actually quite rare. The company went bankrupt after selling only a few thousand units. This unit comes with all the goodies, including the cassette tapes needed to load awesome late-'70s programs onto the computer. In its heyday, the computer came with a 2MHz Intel chip, and the Edu-BASIC operating system on tape. All you need now is a lava lamp and a Bee Gee’s album to complete the 1970s experience.

Vintage Apple eMate 300 Prototype, $8,500

The Apple eMate was supposed to be the digital assistant for the education market. Based on the Newton OS, the translucent green PDAish computing device was the inspiration for the first-generation iBook. Unfortunately, that was the crowning achievement of the eMate, which was discontinued with the rest of the Newton line when Steve Jobs returned to the company.

While asking $8,500 for an eMate seems ridiculous, according to the seller, you would be buying a prototype, and only six of these prototypes were ever produced. So factor that into your bidding decision.

IBM 5110 Portable Computer, $6,000

If you’re tired of the current all-in-one computers on the market, why not splurge on an IBM from the late '70s? For $6,000 you can have a computer that may or may not work (it’s sold as-is), with an amazing 1,024-character display.

Think of all the words you can have on the screen at one time!

Original Pong Video Arcade Cabinet, $15,000

It’s the original Pong video arcade! Having this in your home will give you more geek cred than an original Mac and a copy of Windows 1.0 signed by Bill Gates combined. And the best part is that it works. Invite your friends to a rousing game of Pong on an arcade cabinet that came off the original Atari assembly line.

Casio Game Calculator CA-503, $1,000

In the '80s, you wanted this watch so badly. The horrors of long division would be squelched if you could just convince your parents that you needed a Casio Calculator watch. That the watch also had a game wasn’t relevant. Your motivations were all focused on education – that’s all they needed to know.

Well you’re an adult now, and if you can swing $1,000, this vintage watch is all yours.